Cardcaptor Sakura and the Escape Artist
by Mattman CCS
Summary: Trapped... Upside-down… Can’t breath… How can Sakura Survive? When an Escape artist comes to town, Sakura want's to know all that he knows. But at what cost? ***update*** Chapter 8 is up. More to come very soon. Read and Review.
1. Default Chapter

Boredom.  
  
It was almost as if Sakura were just an ordinary girl again. It had been just a few months since she had sealed the Hope card and the everyday life of a young girl living in Tomoeda, Japan came roaring back like a dragon. There was little to do now, magic wise. Tomoyo was still busy coming up with magical ideas to videotape, staging elaborate scenes starring Sakura and her Guardians saving the town from some new made up threat, but beyond that, things had gone back to normal. Or at least as normal as they ever could be.  
  
Sakura, Tomoyo and Rika were walking together down the street not far from school, talking about school matters, clothes, and boys. Pretty much all the normal stuff eleven year olds talk about. It wasn't that Sakura hated her life. It just wasn't as interesting as it had been. Until they saw the poster.  
  
"Hold it, Rika, Tomoyo, come read this," Sakura said.  
  
The other two girls looked at the poster and all of their hearts skipped. It read, "come one, come all, to see the Magic and sorcery of Joushin the great. See him banish the Blue Elephant to the netherworld. See him escape from the infamous 'upside down water torture chamber'."  
  
"Hoe!" Exclaimed Sakura, and Tomoyo and Rika were equally excited.  
  
"Has a Magician ever come Tomoeda before?" Rika asked.  
  
"Maybe," Tomoyo replied, blushing with joy, "but I don't remember ever hearing of one. Let alone an escape artist."  
  
"What's an escape artist?" Sakura asked as she turned to her old friend.  
  
"A special kind of magician who specializes in 'self liberation'." Tomoyo could see that her explanation was just as confusing as the term she was explaining. "The magician is basically tied up in some way, and has to escape from his bonds before something happens."  
  
"Something?" Sakura asked, "what kind of something?"  
  
"Well," Tomoyo pointed at the poster, "There's a picture of this magician inside a tank of water, hanging upside down. I assume that he has to escape before he drowns."  
  
Both Rika and Sakura gasped.  
  
"Do you think that he uses his magic to escape?" Rika asked.  
  
"Yes," Sakura chimed in, "but I would say it's pretty dangerous, even with magic. Still." She looked at the poster again, fascinated by what she read and saw.  
  
"I'm sure you would be good at it, Sakura, I mean," Tomoyo blushed as she realized she was about to talk about Sakura's magical ability. "With a little practice, I'm sure you would be really good at."  
  
At first, Sakura didn't believe what she was hearing. Was Tomoyo actually suggesting that she try such a dangerous stunt? But as they continued to talk about it on the way home, Sakura thought more and more that she would at least like to know what kind of magic it took to perform such a feet.  
  
When Sakura made it home, she went immediately upstairs to talk to Kero, Beast of the Seal and Sun Guardian. She found him, as always, playing a video game. In truth, even though her father had bought the video game system for her, she didn't get to use it much with Kero around.  
  
"Konnichiwa, Kero-chan," she said, although he ignored her. He was making so much noise, cursing at the video game that he didn't even notice she had come in. "KERO-CHAN!" She repeated, loudly, startling him back to reality.  
  
"WHAAA?" He shouted, and then again, "nooooooo!" His last ship crashed into an asteroid. "Sakura! That was my last my man! Now I have to start over from the beginning." He raised himself up in the air, floating, and hanging his head in a sad manner.  
  
"I'm sorry, Kero," she told him, "but I can't stand it when you ignore me. Besides, I got some wonderful news." She sat down on her bed and smiled a huge smile that only Sakura seemed able to produce. "An escape artist is coming to town."  
  
Kero looked at her. Dumbfounded. His eyes seemed to glow a strange orange, and his face was like a rock.  
  
"Eh," he said, "is that all!?" He began yelling. "You interrupted my game to tell me that?"  
  
"Well, Yes, I did, as a matter of fact. The poster I saw said he can escape from an 'upside down water torture chamber'."  
  
"Oh!" Kero said, smiling his over confident smile. "Clow Reed was an excellent 'self liberator' as well. He mastered all forms of illusion and magic before he created his cards."  
  
"He did?" Sakura was both elated and saddened to learn this. Once again, she faced the fact that she was mistress to magic that had been created by someone else. She often felt a little small and unable to live up to the legend that was Clow Reed.  
  
"Yeah," Kero replied, "I always assumed that one day you would learn such things. It's a little backwards for you, you know. Getting all the cards long before having really studied magic at all. But you're still young, and there's plenty of time to learn such things."  
  
"Do you think I could learn that kind of magic?" She asked.  
  
"Certainly," Kero said, "Like this upside down chamber thing. It's a matter of having a way to get yourself lose, and holding your breath. If you remember, you held your breath for a long, long time that time in Hong Kong. Remember when the sorceress was trying to drown you?"  
  
Sakura did remember that. What she remembered most was being scared, and her lungs feeling like they might explode.  
  
"Yeah," she sighed, thinking to herself. "I have to go and see this for myself."  
  
"Can I come? I'll be quiet, and I'll stay out of other people's treats." Kero was suddenly blushing at the thought of eating sweets.  
  
"Maybe," Sakura told him, "but don't hold your breath."  
  
Sakura didn't tell anyone, but the night before the show, she dreamed that she was the one on stage, performing the acts of magic. She sawed Tomoyo in half, levitated Rika, Chiharu and Naoko, and made Shaoran disappear before the audiences eyes. Then, came the big escape.  
  
All she remembered about the dream was going in the water, upside down, and hearing the locks click into place. Waiting until the curtain was pulled around the tank, she held her breath, and then quickly used a magic spell to unlock herself. Then, she emerged to music flaring and the crowds cheering. She had awakened very excited indeed.  
  
All of her friends had decided to go to the show, and her, Tomoyo, and Shaoran went together. Seated only three rows back, Sakura and Tomoyo couldn't contain themselves, while Shaoran only sat and listened to them giggle and carry on. They were talking about the water escape when he decided to say something.  
  
"This probably isn't even a real magic show," he said to them, deliberately trying to ruin the mood.  
  
"Shaoran," Sakura said to him, "why do you have to be so negative all the time? Even if it's not real magic, Kero said that the art of self liberation is one of skill and endurance, which is the same as magic."  
  
"That may be, but I really hate fakers."  
  
"Is it fake if you are trapped and have to get out, even if there is a trick to it?" She asked him, getting more than a little annoyed with him.  
  
"I suppose not," he returned, "But still."  
  
"Shush, you two," Tomoyo said to them both, "I think the show is starting."  
  
Indeed the show did start, with much fanfare and noise. Joushin the great took the stage, and never spoke a word during the whole show, save near then end. He levitated a ball, from which birds sprang out and flew away. He set fire to a cauldron, from which Rabbits jumped out and scurried around. He motioned for a member of the audience to come up, and having hypnotized her, raised her body off of the ground and floated it high about the stage and out over the heads of the astonished onlookers. His assistants came out, and an elephant was brought out onto the stage, and before anyone knew for sure what was going to happen, it vanished with a bright flash, only to reappear at the back of the auditorium.  
  
The people in the audience loved it.  
  
But then all grew quiet, as Joushin stood unmoving in a spotlight. Music, strange and pulsing, came out as his assistants moved a large water tank out onto the stage, and for the first time, He spoke to his audience.  
  
"Friends, it has been a joy to perform for you and your families tonight. But now, I may very well be leaving this world. As you see behind me, my assistants have brought out the 'upside down water torture chamber', but, alas, it has been renamed, 'the water chamber of death'."  
  
The audience grew starkly quiet.  
  
"Earlier this evening, my apprentice was testing the tank, performing the trick exactly as I instructed him. But, fate has taken him from us. It was a dreadful accident. But in his memory, I will be performing this escape in spite of the danger."  
  
His assistants came out again, and helped him to get out of his robes. Underneath all of his clothes he was wearing a wetsuit colored blue and black.  
  
"Now, I need some witnesses to come up, and witness the escape close up. You, young man." Joushin pointed to a boy in the front row, and the lad slowly came up on the stage.  
  
"And, uh, you there, kind madam," he pointed to one of the teachers at the school. Finally, he looked around the audience as his assistants prepared the stocks that would hold his feet. "You there." He pointed straight at Sakura.  
  
She couldn't believe her luck. She looked at Tomoyo and Shaoran, and beaming a smile wider than the Sea of Japan, she strode up on the stage.  
  
Joushin sat on the floor of the stage, and his assistants placed his feet in the stocks. The Boy and the teacher both helped to make sure that the locks used were real, and they helped lock them in place. Then, one of the assistants handed a set of handcuffs to Sakura. Instantly she went from very, very happy to nervous and shaking.  
  
"Lock my hands behind me," Joushin told her as he put a nose clip on. He laughed at Sakura's expression, and said, trying to calm her, "I can hold my breath a long time, but I can't stand water in my nose any more than you can." Sakura took the cuffs and locked them around his wrists behind him.  
  
"Are," she stammered, "are they too tight?"  
  
"No, indeed, it's just perfect," he replied. Even so, Sakura was beginning to get very nervous. All the excitement of this had caught her now unprepared for what was happening. Joushin could drown, and she had a close up view of it. The assistants attached the stock on his ankles to a crane, then gently lifted the doomed magician up in the air and positioned him over the tank. A large clock was rolled out onto the stage so that all in the audience could see it.  
  
"Now," Joushin announced, "I invite any of you to try and hold your breath as long as I will have to." With that, he took 1. 2. 3 deep breaths before holding it, and he was lowered into the tank. Sakura took a deep breath as well, and held her breath, holding her hands near her mouth as they locked the tank shut, trapping the magician. A curtain was then placed around the tank, and the clock started, counting down the time. One of his assistants stepped up, followed by another hooded person carrying a large sledgehammer.  
  
"In case anything were to go wrong," the assistant said, "I please beg all of you to remain seated until things are under control. We have emergency procedures should the need arise." Sakura stared at him, still holding her breath, and glanced at the clock. It said that 35 seconds had gone by since Joushin had been sealed in the tank. Her heart was going like mad, and she stared out at Tomoyo and Shaoran with a little bit of alarm. It was very nerve racking, waiting for someone to escape or die.  
  
Tomoyo and Shaoran both watched the event unfold, and Shoaran was beginning to rethink how he felt about what he had said. He was impressed so far, but he kept his eye on Sakura. Tomoyo looked at her best friend as well, and found herself counting along with clock in excitement. She thought that it must be so exciting for Sakura, standing there seeing it happen close up.  
  
Time ticked on, 45 seconds. One minute. one minute and 15 seconds. Sakura stared at the curtain, thinking of what horrors Joushin must be experiencing in the tank. Would he get out in time? Her heart was pounding, her lungs were now screaming out to breath, but Sakura stood her ground, waiting for Joushin to either free himself, or.  
  
One minute and 30 seconds. One minute and 45 seconds. Two Minutes! Sakura was growing weak in the knees, but still worrying about Joushin. He hadn't come out of the tank yet. Was he already drowned? She fell to her knees, desperate to hang on, to hold her breath, fearing that if she breathed it might mean that the magician had died, but she couldn't hold out much longer. She looked up at the clock. Two minutes and 25 seconds. She let out her air, and took a deep breath, and cursed herself for no having more willpower.  
  
"Something's not right," the assistant cried out, "he should have come out by now." Sakura looked up, a kind of terror in her eyes. The assistant motioned quickly to the hooded person carrying the hammer, and noise broke out on the stage as the crowd leapt to its feet in anticipation. The curtain was dropped, and there, before them all, stood an empty tank!  
  
A gasp went around the crowd, and a spotlight hit the hooded person, who threw away the cloak to reveal a soaking wet but very much living Joushin the great. Sakura, as well as the crowd, gave a cheer and a sigh of relief, and Sakura jumped to her feet and ran to Joushin. She stopped short of joining him in the spotlight, staring at him as he bowed and gesticulated to the audience. He turned his gaze to her, and winked.  
  
After the curtain came down, he turned to Sakura and looked long and hard at her.  
  
"Could you stay here for a few minutes, young one? I would like to talk to you, if I may?" He said.  
  
Of course, Sakura stayed. 


	2. The assitant

Tomoyo and Shaoran ran up to the stage as the curtain came down. The show had been really exciting and a lot of fun, but when Sakura didn't come back down off the stage, they both became concerned.  
  
"Do you think Sakura was overcome by the excitement?" Tomoyo asked Shaoran, who only nodded. He was already going up the steps to the stage. He parted the curtain to see Sakura standing there, looking up in the rafters, just kind of taking it all in. Her gaze came around to her good friend, and her face lit up.  
  
"Shaoran-kun!" She cried, running to him and grabbing his hands. "Did you see? He got out and magically appeared right there in front me! Wasn't it incredible?"  
  
"Ye-Yes," he said, thinking how now he was about to take all the fun out of Sakura, "but you know that it's just a trick?"  
  
"A trick?" She looked at him for a sec, and then dropped his hands and put hers on her hips, "Of course it was a trick. He either got out by magic, or he undid the locks and got out, either way, it was great. Why do you have to take the fun out of things?"  
  
"I was just worried that you were," he stopped for second, scared that he was making her angry, "I don't know, thinking it was something it wasn't."  
  
"Oh," Sakura stopped feeling upset, "you were just worried. I can see why you would, that is dangerous magic, even if it is really cool. Thank you."  
  
Shaoran blushed. Tomoyo made her way through the curtain and joined them. "Tomoyo-chan!" Sakura started the same thing with her she did Shaoran. "I think Joushin is the best. I wonder what kind of magic he wants to teach me?" Both Tomoyo and Shaoran looked at her with disbelief.  
  
"What do you mean, Sakura-chan?" Tomoyo asked.  
  
"He asked me to stay, wait for him. He wants to talk to me."  
  
Tomoyo almost jumped for joy, while Shaoran looked shocked and worried. To him, this magician, this Joushin the great, was just a charlatan, a fake, even if he was physically skilled as an escape artist. Tomoyo on the other hand, saw only visions of magic shows featuring Sakura the great, and how cute she would look wearing a Tomoyo original costume on stage as animals appeared and disappeared in puffs of fire and smoke.  
  
"OH, Sakura-chan, you would look so cute as a magician. I should start working on your wardrobe. I should modify the costume you wore for your final judgment."  
  
Shaoran didn't get a chance to say anything before Joushin came back from his dressing room. He had dried off and put on a new shirt and pants. He smiled as he approached them.  
  
"Hello again," he said, "and who are these fine young people."  
  
"Oh," Sakura started, "these are my friends, Tomoyo Daidouji, and Shaoran Li." Joushin smiled and bowed lightly to them, as did they. "My name is Sakura Kinomoto."  
  
"I'm not going to hold you up, so I'll be brief," he continued, "I watched you out there. While I was hiding in the costume, I watched you holding your breath. It was marvelous. My niece, who is one of my assistants, tells me you held out almost all the way to the end. I'd like to ask you, how would you like to be my assistant at my last show, on the 15th of the month?"  
  
"Oh," Sakura looked at him with suddenly wide eyes, she couldn't believe what she was hearing, "Oh yes, yes I would."  
  
"Very good," Joushin replied, "Be here tomorrow, after school. The last show is only two weeks away, and there's much to do to get ready."  
  
"Oh, Joushin-san," Tomoyo interrupted, "is it ok if I design the costume she'll wear?"  
  
"Well, only as long it matches the color scheme of the other costumes, but yeah, it would be OK for our special guest assistant to have a special costume." He stopped for a second, getting serious. "You have to get permission from your parents for this, Sakura, but other than that, everything is prepared. Can we look forward to seeing you tomorrow?"  
  
"Yes!" Sakura nearly jumped out of her skin. She was thrilled. "I'll be here." Shaoran stared at Joushin as he said his goodbye and walked back to the dressing rooms, a little worried and suspicious of him. But then again, Shaoran was always like that. He felt deep feelings for Sakura, sometimes more than he wanted to admit, even to himself, and as a result he needed to protect her, always. Although he was sure that this Joushin was OK, he still felt better keeping an eye on him and Sakura.  
  
"Sakura," he said, "I don't know if this is a good idea." He hoped he didn't hurt her feelings, but he had to say something.  
  
"Why? It's not like he wants me to get in the upside down chamber." Sakura seemed almost starry eyed, as she looked at all the magic props around the stage. "I'll be his assistant, and I'll learn his secrets. It'll be great, having something new that's about magic to do again. I didn't know how much I missed capturing the cards and having new adventures."  
  
"Yeah, Li-kun," Tomoyo said, "It'll be wonderful. You'll see." Sakura and Tomoyo both smiled at each other as they stepped down from the stage. Li just watched them. What else could he do? 


	3. Learning the ropes or cuffs

Sakura ran into the house like a train, she was still so excited about what had happened. She was going to get to be an assistant in a real magic show. She could hardly contain herself.  
  
"I'm home!" She called out. The first to ask her how she liked the magic show was her father, Fujitake.  
  
"What was it like?" He asked, and she went into a play-by-play description of the entire show from start to finish. Then, she dropped the question on him.  
  
"You'll never guess. He asked me to be his assistant for the last show! Is it ok, he said I have to ask you, May I, please?" Sakura had never begged for anything in her life, but this once she felt she had to. Fujitake just smiled down at her. She was so excited, how could he say no?  
  
"Of course, Sakura-san, but I want a front row seat."  
  
"Thank you, father," she said as she jumped up and into his arms, absolutely elated. She let him go, still smiling and ran up the stairs to tell Kero the good news.  
  
"Kero-chan, I'm back." She started talking a mile a minute. Kero just sat on the bed with his mouth hanging open, taking in every word she said. When she got to the part about the escape itself, Kero nodded at her.  
  
"Hm," Kero said, "I would have loved to see the escape, at least. Even if there is a trick involved, it would still take a lot of courage and skill. In fact, even if the magic was real, you would still have to hold your breath long enough to get out."  
  
Sakura stopped for a moment, thinking about what Kero said. She remembered that it took a while for them to get Joushin into the tank, plus the time he had to wait until the curtain was put up around the tank. She was feeling a strange kind of excitement, thinking about Joushin in the tank, and as she daydreamed she could almost imagine herself in the tank, surprising everyone with her escape ability. It would go a long way towards her proving that she was at least as good as Clow had been at illusions.  
  
"Incredible," she caught herself saying out loud, "but he wants me to be his assistant for the last show. Tomoyo is making a special costume for me. And I go tomorrow to practice what I need to know to be an assistant."  
  
"!!" Kero looked proud. "That's fantastic. I think it would be good for you to learn the fine art of illusion. You'll learn one of the most important things a good magician learns."  
  
"What's that?" Sakura asked.  
  
"Misdirection," he replied. He flew over to the dresser and picked up a rolled up pair of socks. "Getting someone to look at one thing," he tossed the wadded socks across the room, and Sakura watched to see where they landed. When she looked back to where Kero was, he wasn't there. She looked to the left and the right, but he was nowhere to be seen.  
  
"BOOO!" Kero screamed from right behind her head. Sakura nearly hit the ceiling from the fright.  
  
"Kero-chan!" She yelled back, "Try to be quiet."  
  
"While you do something else," he continued. "I made you look at the socks, and then snuck behind you quickly without you seeing." Just then, a knock on the door startled both of them. It was Touya.  
  
"Is everything OK in here," Touya said as he opened the door. Kero dropped to the floor next to Sakura's feet, and she turned around quickly, sweat running down her forehead.  
  
"Oni-chan!" She complained, "couldn't you wait till I said 'come in'? I could have been getting dressed!"  
  
"Heh," he said, looking at her with his big, teasing eyes, "like there would be anything to see."  
  
Sakura suddenly became furious. "Oni-chan, get out!" She screamed, pushing him towards the door. Touya was taken by surprise by her outrage, and he couldn't believe he had said what he said.  
  
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry," he said, but it was too late. Sakura was so angry, she thought she might have to throw something at her brother.  
  
After he was gone, and Sakura was trying to calm down, anger still on her face. Touya was always doing things to get on her nerves, but only once in a while did he go too far. I'll show him, she said, I'll show what there is to see. I'll be a great assistant to Joushin, maybe even do something really spectacular. Then he'll learn.  
  
The next day at school, Sakura had a hard time concentrating on anything because of thoughts of magical wonders. She actually dropped her recorder during music class, as well as reading from the wrong paragraph in reading class. But she held out, and as soon it was all over she strapped on her roller blades and headed for the theatre where practice would take place.  
  
"Oh how I wish Tomoyo and Kero could be here to see," she thought on the way, "but Tomoyo has choir practice, and Kero just wants to wait till the show. Oh well."  
  
When she got there, and after changing from her roller blades to her shoes, she stepped into the darkness of the theatre, now just a little unnerved by the quiet. When she made it to the main auditorium, she saw, up on the stage, bunches of the props for the show, including the tank from the escape trick. On a stepladder next to the tank, a young girl was cleaning the glass. Since she was unsure how to get anyone's attention, Sakura cleared her throat. The girl heard her and looked out into the theatre.  
  
"Who's there?" The girl asked.  
  
"Sakura Kinomoto," Sakura replied.  
  
"Oh," The girl called out, dropping her towel as she jumped down onto the stage. "Come on up, I've been waiting for you." Sakura climbed the steps up to the stage, the same steps she had climbed the day before.  
  
"Hi," the girl said, "my name is Elainu, I'm Joushin's niece. He wanted me to get you started, since were about the same age." Elainu was about one inch taller than Sakura, but with light brown shoulder length hair. Her eyes were hazel, and she had a smile that rivaled Sakura's in size and brightness. "Have you ever seen the backstage at a magic show before?"  
  
"Um, no," Sakura told her.  
  
"Well, you'll be surprised, I'm sure. Even when you find out how this stuff is done, it still doesn't take away the magic. When I became my uncle's apprentice, I was amazed at the work that goes into the show."  
  
"Is it hard work?" Sakura asked her.  
  
"It can be, but you got me to help you out. Every town we go to we ask a local girl to be an assistant for the last show. It helps make everyone in town want to come. But Joushin thinks you could be better. If you can manage it, he wouldn't mind you doing a couple of tricks yourself."  
  
"OH," Sakura gasped. Then she had a thought. "Wait a minute. Didn't Joushin say his apprentice died doing the water chamber escape?"  
  
"Well," Elainu said with a little guilt in her voice, "we just say that to make it seem more exciting. Truth is, the escape is a pretty safe trick. Let me show how all this works."  
  
Like Elainu had said, Sakura was taken by surprise. She never could have dreamed that she could be so lucky. The rest of the time was spent looking at how some of the bigger tricks were done. Elainu explained about how the different tricks worked. She showed her the secret hiding places where the rabbits and doves were kept, how you need two elephants (both borrowed from the Tokyo metropolitan Zoo) to make one disappear, and how an assistant can distract an audience from what the magician is really doing.  
  
But Sakura kept looking at the tank and wondering how that was done. Her curiosity about it was nearly killing her, since it seemed like it was so impossible. Finally she asked Elainu.  
  
"Um, how about the escape? How is that done?" Sakura didn't really expect an answer. "Is it a very hard trick?"  
  
"You mean the water chamber?" Elainu confirmed. "Nah, I've done it before."  
  
Sakura's eyes got wide.  
  
"Really? But, isn't it dangerous?" Sakura asked.  
  
"Well, sure, but so is swimming." Elainu went over to the tank and leaned her hand against it. "The biggest danger of this is panic. If you loose your cool, you loose your life. But once you know how to get free, it's just as safe as the Sawing-in-half trick."  
  
"But," Sakura said, "don't you have to know how to pick locks and things like that?"  
  
Elainu looked at Sakura and considered how to explain it to her. She went over to a large case and pulled out a set of handcuffs.  
  
"See these?" Elainu asked. "This is the special set that we had made to fit me. Full size ones are too loose, and people need to see that the cuffs are on tight. Turn around and put your hands behind your back."  
  
Sakura's eyes got wide. She wasn't sure she wanted to let this girl, who she only just met, lock her hands behind her back. In fact, Sakura wasn't sure she's let anyone do that to her.  
  
"Aw, come on, I'm not going to do anything to you. I just want to show you something."  
  
Reluctantly, Sakura turned around and offered her hands behind her. Elainu put them on her, clicking them till they were snug.  
  
"There," Elainu said, "all locked up. Can you get loose?" Sakura tried to slip her hands out of the cuffs, but they were too snug, and even though she could reach most of the metal with her fingers, she couldn't figure out if there was a trick.  
  
"No," Sakura replied, her nerves getting the better of her.  
  
"Relax," Elainu told her as she pulled out the key and unlocked the cuffs, "I understand how you feel. If you've never been locked up like that, it can get you nervous quick." She took the cuffs off and handed Sakura the key and the cuffs. "Now, you lock me." Elainu turned and around with her hands behind her back.  
  
Sakura was shaking a little as she put the cuffs on Elainu. She wasn't sure if it was just the excitement of learning new things, or if she was just nervous about the whole thing. Once she had locked Elainu's hands, the magician's apprentice turned around to face her student.  
  
"See," she said, first pulling her hands up just enough to be able to see them, "I can't get loose. The cuffs are tight enough to where I can't get my hands out of them, and I can't pull them in front of me." She continued to struggle against them, as she really was stuck for real, then without having said another thing, she pulled one hand out from behind her, with the cuffs still hanging from her wrist. Sakura was amazed, and instantly all the nervousness was replaced with pure shock.  
  
"How did you."? Sakura started to say.  
  
"With this," Elainu pulled her other hand out from behind her, and held up a key. "I had it hidden in my back pocket. I wouldn't let anyone hang me upside down in a tank of water if I had to pick the lock." Sakura was surprised at herself. It seemed that Kero had said something about that, something about.  
  
"Misdirection!" Sakura blurted out.  
  
"Very good," Elainu said, "you may be a natural at this. Once you loose your nerves, I bet you could be a great entertainer."  
  
Sakura could only stare at Elainu. She had never thought about magic like this before. With all her cards, she was a pretty skilled little sorceress, but this was different. It was entertaining. People come from miles around to see this kind of thing. Maybe, she thought, I could use my cards as a way to entertain people. For the first time in her short time as mistress of the cards, she felt like she could somehow live up to the legacy of Clow. 


	4. Seeing it done

"WHAT?" Kero cried out. Sakura had come home to tell him all about what she had learned, plus her decision to try using her cards in the show.  
  
"The Clow Cards were never meant for that. What if someone finds out about them?" Kero asked her.  
  
"Well, they're not Clow cards anymore, they're Sakura cards, and besides, you told me all about how Clow used to do magic to entertain people."  
  
"But times have changed Sakura, magic isn't seen the same now as it was in his time. I'm all for you learning new stuff, but you cant let people see you using the cards. They would be afraid of you. They wouldn't understand."  
  
Sakura thought hard about that. She wouldn't like that at all, suddenly having people fear her. She had always kept the cards a secret, and had thought it was because she was just embarrassed, but she realized just then that she was just afraid of what people would say.  
  
"Tomoyo found out about the cards," Sakura suddenly remember, "and she wasn't afraid of me. She understood." Sakura was getting a little angry about having to argue about this.  
  
"But, Sakura," Kero said calmly, "Tomoyo was a dear friend of yours long before she saw you riding on your staff. What was she gonna do? She adores you."  
  
Sakura was beginning to see Kero's point. People who know her may eventually find out about the cards and Sakura's magic, but people who don't know her may become fearful, distrustful, Jealous. She suddenly remembered reading about witch-hunts, and how they used to be burned at the stake.  
  
"I," she stuttered, "I'm sorry. I just wish I didn't have to keep them secret. I wish there something more I could do with them. Like Clow-san used to do." Kero flew up to Sakura and stared into her eyes.  
  
"I know it's hard, but you have to know that Clow chose you for a reason. There is some higher purpose that he sensed. You don't have to do anything special to earn the right to be the mistress of the cards."  
  
"I," Sakura started, "I at least want to do one trick. I could use flower, or bubble. Something no one would be able to tell the difference with." Sakura looked at Kero with hope.  
  
"Well," he said, having to admit to himself that it wasn't that bad an idea. "Maybe. But be very careful Sakura."  
  
"I will. I don't want people afraid of me." But all this talk of not having to be special didn't make Sakura feel better. She still didn't feel like she was good enough to hold the cards, even though she loved them, and she knew they loved her. She still felt like she had to prove herself.  
  
At lunchtime the next day at school, everyone had gathered around Sakura to hear about the magic show, and wanted to know about all the secrets. Sakura just told them she was sworn to secrecy, that Joushin had said that if she broke his confidence, he wasn't sure what curse he would have to put on her. That was all a lie, but a showy lie, one that made all the magic seem that much more mysterious. Eventually, the crowd thinned out, leaving Tomoyo, Shaoran and Sakura alone for the first time all day.  
  
"Sakura, I need you to come over sometime before the last show," Tomoyo said, "I need to take some measurements since you've grown taller."  
  
Sakura nodded, but she kept noticing that Shaoran was quiet. Too quiet.  
  
"Shaoran-kun," Sakura said, "are you feeling OK?"  
  
"Yes," he said, "why?"  
  
"Your so quiet lately. Is it about the magic show?"  
  
"Um," he stammered, trying to think of the right words. "I. Was actually thinking. How cool it will be to see you. On the stage." Shaoran was surprised at himself, really, that he had slowly come around to the idea of Sakura in the magic show. "I'm really looking forward to it."  
  
Sakura blushed. Her feelings about Shaoran weren't as confusing as they had been. She knew that she loved him; only she didn't know exactly how to show it sometimes. She stared at him for a second or two, and then quickly at the ground as her stomach churned with her feelings.  
  
"I'll do my best for you." She said and smiled at him. Tomoyo just sighed. Her best friend, and love of her life (so far) had a boyfriend, but she was glad when Sakura was happy. And it was obvious to all that the magic show was making Sakura very happy.  
  
In fact, school was just a breeze for Sakura, everyday going by quickly. She just couldn't believe it sometimes, as she roller bladed to the theatre everyday to practice. Her life was interesting again. Even Touya's teasing couldn't put her in a bad mood anymore, try as he might. But nothing made her happier than the day she walked up to the stage just in time to see Joushin and Elainu, along with the other assistants, practicing the Water Escape.  
  
In fact, it was Elainu who was practicing, under the watchful eye of Joushin. As the assistant made some adjustments to the stocks that would hold Elainu's feet in place while she was upside down in the tank, Joushin was giving out some instruction on the finer points of doing the escape.  
  
"Remember," He told his niece, "When you take a that last deep breath, to stop and suck in as much air as you can, like you're blowing up a balloon in reverse. You never know when it might take a little longer to get the cuffs free." He inspected the stocks himself, making sure that every detail was checked and rechecked. "Also, remember, only unlock ONE hand. No need to waste time on both."  
  
"What about the weight, Uncle," Elainu asked.  
  
"Oh," he said, "that's right." He went to the other end of the stage and pulled out an anchor that had a rope attached to it. "I used this at last night's performance. I told the audience that it made the escape more difficult; when in reality it doesn't do a thing. The rope goes around and under your arms as you're upside down, and with your arms at your sides and your hands behind your back, the rope stays in place. But as soon as you're free of the cuffs, you hold your arms down towards the bottom of the tank, and the rope slips easily off. It added the performance so well, I thought."  
  
Joushin slipped the rope, which was tied in a loop, around Elainu, and then placed the cuffs on her hands, locking them behind her back. The then motioned to the assistants, who pulled on a rope and pulley, gently lifting the stocks and Elainu up in the air. Soon, she was upside down, and they all worked her into position over the tank, lowering her until her head was just above the water.  
  
Sakura stayed quiet. She was very nervous again, worried about what might happen to poor Elainu. Sakura had only seen the trick done the one time, and as fascinating as it was. She had come to really like Joushin's niece, and if anything went wrong, she didn't know what she would do. But at the same time, she couldn't help but think that Joushin would never let his niece do something unless he thought it was safe.  
  
"Remember, also," Joushin continued, "As your going into the tank, to make a big show out of it. Make it look like your already struggling."  
  
"You still want me to undo the cuffs on the way in, too?" She asked him.  
  
"Yes, but try to keep it like your not doing anything at all," Joushin said. "As soon as the curtain goes around the tank, you can pull your hands around and let the weight drop."  
  
"OK," Elainu said, without even a trace of fear in her voice or on her face. Sakura was amazed. How could she be so calm? "OK," Joushin said, "get ready." Elainu took one deep breath. Two deep breaths. And on the third she took a big breath, stopped, and then sucked a little more air in, then nodded. They lowered her in, and almost immediately she began struggling, so much so that Sakura gasped. Even though she had just heard Joushin tell his niece to 'act' like she was struggling, Sakura couldn't help but be worried.  
  
But Sakura's fears soon turned to admiration. Once they had locked the stocks in place and Elainu was sealed in, Sakura noticed that they didn't put a curtain around the tank. Of course, she thought, it's only a practice. But then, within just seconds, Elainu had gotten her hands free, she pointed both hands toward the bottom of the tank, and the rope and the anchor fell to the bottom. Then She reached out and grabbed bars that were in each corner of the tank. Sakura hadn't notice they were even there. But Elainu used them to work her body up to where she could reach her feet, and she reached up to the stocks and did something to them. Then suddenly, Elainu's feet came loose, and she turned right side up in the tank.  
  
Sakura couldn't believe what she had seen. As Elainu pushed the middle part of the stocks up and climbed out without having to undo the locks, Sakura realized that she had only been underwater about 30 seconds.  
  
"Elainu," Joushin said as she climbed out of the tank.  
  
"Yes, Uncle?"  
  
"You forgot something. It's best to relock the cuff after you take it off, so that it can't get caught on anything. But other than that, you did well." Elainu was beaming with pride as she noticed Sakura standing near the front row seats.  
  
"Hi, there. Did you see the whole thing?" Joushin turned and smiled as he saw his cute little guest assistant.  
  
"Yes!" Sakura said. "I thought it took longer to get out than that."  
  
"Oh, no," Joushin said, "There has to be enough time to go and get into the sledge hammer rescue costume. Except of course, when Elainu does the escape, we have her go and hide in the audience. She will be doing the escape at tomorrow's matinee, so she needs to work out the kinks in her performance."  
  
"Aw come on uncle," Elainu said as she jumped down from the tank and took a towel from a waiting assistant, "It's not that hard. Anyone could do this with a little practice."  
  
"Not everyone," her uncle said, "people with heart problems and weak muscles shouldn't ever try it. But I suppose anyone who wants to could learn it. By the way, Sakura-san, I'm sorry I haven't been here any this week to help you get ready for the show, but Elainu tells me you are coming along nicely."  
  
"Oh, no, Jousin-kun," Sakura replied, "no need to apologize. I've learned so much, I cant thank you enough."  
  
"Why your very welcome," Joushin told her. "Now, after we clean up, we can run through some of the magic. I'd like you to be onstage through the whole show, since you are doing well. It's always a big kick for the audience when they see one of their own in the show."  
  
But, after the rehearsal, Sakura stopped and talked to Elainu.  
  
"I want to learn how to do the escape," Sakura told her. "I'm not sure that I want to do it, but I at least want to learn."  
  
"Well," Elainu said, "The first thing you'd have to do is learn to unlock the cuffs while your hands are behind you. I'll tell you what." Elainu disappeared for a minute and came back with a pair of cuffs that were just like the ones she had used for the escape. "If you promise to bring them back tomorrow, you can take these home and practice. Here's the key. Don't lose it."  
  
Sakura nodded. She couldn't wait to get home. But first she needed to stop at Tomoyo's house. 


	5. Tomoyo makes a mistake?

Tomoyo greeted Sakura at the door. She smiled at her friend.  
  
"Hi, Sakura-chan. Did you come so I could take some new measurements?" She asked.  
  
"Yes," Sakura replied, "and I have to a lot to tell you." As they went up to Tomoyo's room, Sakura told all about seeing Elainu do the water chamber escape, and Tomoyo hung on every word. She secretly was hoping that Sakura would get a chance to do something in the show, some magic trick of her own, but even though Sakura hadn't told her what she intended to do all this talk about the show only fueled her hopes.  
  
"It only took her how long to get out of the tank?" Tomoyo asked as she opened her bedroom door.  
  
"About 30 seconds," Sakura told her, "or that's what Joushin said. I thought it took longer than that, but I guess there has to be time to get into the secret costume. But Elainu said when she does the escape in the show, she goes out and hides in the audience."  
  
"It may not be real magic, like the cards are," Tomoyo said as she got out her tape measure, "But it's still really exciting. Come here, and let me get the measurements." Sakura took off her book bag, sat it on the ground and walked over to where Tomoyo was waiting next to the window.  
  
"How tall am I now, do you think?" Sakura asked. Tomoyo let one end of the tape hit the floor as she held up the other end to Sakura's forehead.  
  
"134 centimeters," Tomoyo told her, "you've grown a few inches." Tomoyo then stepped behind Sakura and told her to hold her arms out to her sides. She reached around Sakura's waist with the tape measure, reading the size to herself, but she held the tape there for a few seconds. She so much loved making these costumes for Sakura that she never wanted to stop doing it. She reached around again to get a measurement or Sakura's hips, just to be on the safe side, since it wouldn't be good if it turned out her hips were larger than her waist. Tomoyo gave Sakura a quick hug while she was at it.  
  
"Um," Sakura said, letting her arms down and sighing at the same time, "Joushin said the colors have to be light blue, red and black. He said the design could be anything, as long as I could move around ok."  
  
"I can do that. I already have a costume with those colors. I just need to alter it a little." Sakura went to pick up her book bag, to get it off the floor, but as she picked it up, the handcuffs that Elainu had loaned her fell out and hit the floor. The sound of them caught Tomoyo's attention, and she bent down to pick them up.  
  
"What are these for?" She asked as she looked at them with curiosity on her face.  
  
"Um," Sakura started to say. She had hoped to surprise Tomoyo with this news, but she had wanted to practice a lot before letting anyone know. "I got those from Elainu. I'm going to practice unlocking them while I'm cuffed behind my back."  
  
"What?" Tomoyo asked, "why?"  
  
"Well," Sakura was sweating a little. She had might as well tell her. "Promise not to tell anyone?" Tomoyo nodded.  
  
"I'm learning how to do the Water Escape."  
  
Tomoyo was silent as she lowered her hand and the cuffs. It took a few seconds, but the news finally sunk in, and Tomoyo smiled. Sakura was going to try to do something special in the show, but.  
  
"But, aren't you afraid?" She asked.  
  
"Well," Sakura told her, "I haven't exactly decided I'm going to do the escape, but I at least want to learn how. That's why I have these. I have to learn to get out of those while my hands are cuffed behind me."  
  
"Oooo," Tomoyo said to her. "Can I help you practice?"  
  
Sakura thought about and realized she probably would need help with it at first. What if she lost the key? Or dropped it? It would be nice to have a friend to help if something went wrong.  
  
"Sure. I was going to wait till I got home, but now is good. I've been so excited." In fact, both of them were so excited that they immediately went over to the sofa and sat on the edge of the cushions. Tomoyo looked at the cuffs for second, frowning.  
  
"How do they work?"  
  
"You just put the ends around my wrists and squeeze them till they lock."  
  
"But what if I make them too tight?" Tomoyo was worried about that. She didn't want to hurt her friend.  
  
"You wont," Sakura told her as she turned around and put her hands behind her, "I trust you." The situation felt altogether different with Tomoyo than it had with Elainu that first time. Sakura figured that since it was Tomoyo, she didn't have to worry at all.  
  
"OK," Tomoyo said, "here goes." She put one cuff on at a time, and slowly clicked them into place as snug as she dared. Sakura pulled on them to see if they were on good, but then she realized she had forgotten where she put the key! She turned back to her friend with a slight look of panic in her eyes.  
  
"Tomoyo," she whispered, "I don't remember where I put the key."  
  
"Isn't there a trick to getting them off?"  
  
"No, they're real. There's no trick. I have to unlock them off with a key." Sakura looked at her book bag. She knew she had the key, and that she put it somewhere in her book bag, she didn't remember where or inside what. "It's in my book bag."  
  
"Don't worry, Sakura-chan," Tomoyo said, "I'll find it for you." Tomoyo went to where the bag still lay and carried it back to the sofa. She started looking through everything in it, but she didn't see a key. She pulled each book out, each notebook, her pencil case, and tipped the bag up so that anything in it would fall out, but no luck.  
  
"Oh, no," Sakura said, "I was sure I put it in there." Sakura got up awkwardly and walked over to where the bag had been laying, and Tomoyo started putting the books back in the bag. But as she picked up the math book, the key fell out of it, hitting the carpet silently. Tomoyo looked at it as it rested on the floor, and a sudden devilish streak hit her. She picked it up quickly and put it in her pocket. Sakura was struggling to get down on her knees so that she could look around the floor closer. Tomoyo didn't know what came over her, but she just had to play a prank on her friend. She never did anything like that. Usually she was nice and never played tricks or anything like that. But she couldn't resist this once. After all, when was the last time she had Sakura stuck like this. She went over to her trapped friend and got to her knees to help 'look' for the key.  
  
"What am I going to do, Tomoyo?" Sakura said, looking around as best she could with her hands cuffed behind her. She was a little more than worried now, and her eyes were all over the place, trying desperately to see any nook or cranny that the key could have fallen into. Tomoyo did her best not to giggle. Watching Sakura like this was entertaining. But she also felt a little bad about what she was doing. She started to reach in her pocket when the door in the other room opened and Arisu, the upstairs maid, came in.  
  
"Hoe?" Sakura said, "oh no! Tomoyo, what do I do?"  
  
Tomoyo reacted quickly, helping Sakura get up and sit on the couch. She pushed her all the way back, so that her hands couldn't be seen, and then sat on the couch herself.  
  
"Tomoyo-sama," Arisu called out, "would you and Sakura-chan like some tea?" Arisu came into the room with a cart and tea set.  
  
"Yes," Tomoyo said, trying to act as natural as she could, "could you leave the." But Arisu had already poured a cup and was motioning towards Sakura.  
  
"Would you like sugar or cream, Sakura-chan?" Arisu asked. Sakura was sweating big time.  
  
"No, um, no," she stuttered. "N-not right now, but thanks." She giggled nervously and tried to grin and act like nothing was wrong, but the fact that she was practically sitting on her hands didn't make it any better. And worse than that, her wrists were starting to hurt.  
  
"I'll have some now, please, Arisu," Tomoyo cried, "Sakura was going to go to the bathroom in a minute anyway." Tomoyo mentally yelled at herself for saying something so stupid. Why would she be waiting to go to the bathroom? "There was someone in there a while ago."  
  
Nice save, Sakura thought. She stared at Tomoyo so that she wouldn't have to look at Arisu, hoping that the maid wouldn't get any more suspicious than she was, but it wasn't working. Arisu handed Tomoyo the cup, and then turned around, left the cart where it was and left the room confused.  
  
"Whew," Tomoyo said, "poor Arisu. I put her through so much sometimes."  
  
"Poor Arisu?" Sakura said, leaning forward to take the pressure of her wrists, "What about me?" She stood up to try looking for the key again. She wasn't as scared now as she had been, but she definitely didn't want to spend very much more time stuck like this.  
  
"Do you remember exactly where you put the key, Sakura-chan," Tomoyo said, smiling to herself.  
  
"Um," Sakura thought for second, the said, " I remember opening a book. My math book! That's it. Tomoyo, could you get my math book and open it up? Please?" Tomoyo did like Sakura asked her, but of course, the key wasn't there.  
  
"Hoe," Sakura said as she got back down on her knees and started looking again. Tomoyo watched her friend, and as always she thought that Sakura was the cutest, but right at that moment, in the predicament she was in, she seemed especially cute. Tomoyo got on her hands and knees and pretended to look for the key, then sat up on her knees, pretending she got an idea.  
  
"Maybe, if we put soapy water on your wrists, your hands will just slip out of the cuffs."  
  
"That's a good idea," Sakura said, "but where can we get some soap?"  
  
"How about," Tomoyo said, staring at the ceiling a second and trying not to look guilty, "there's lots of dishwashing liquid in the kitchen. Maybe we could go down there and get some."  
  
"But," Sakura said, twisting herself so that Tomoyo could see her cuffed hands, "how will we keep people from seeing me?" Tomoyo thought quickly.  
  
"I'll go get it, then," Tomoyo said as she jumped to her feet. "You stay here."  
  
"No! Don't leave me like this!"  
  
"Oh," Tomoyo said, "your right. Let me see." She was enjoying this way too much, she knew, but she couldn't help it. She walked around the room for second, acting like she was thinking, then ran back to Sakura and helped her get up.  
  
"Hoe," Sakura said, "what are you doing?"  
  
"I'm going to hide you in the closet. I can lock it, so no one can get in and find you."  
  
"Whoa, wait," Sakura protested, but it was hard to struggle with her hands behind her.  
  
"In you go," Tomoyo said as she pushed Sakura into the closet. Thing was, Tomoyo had two closets, one a large walk-in with an overhead light, the other for storing things with just a tiny nightlight. Tomoyo had chosen the second one. Sakura stumbled in, and fell to her knees.  
  
"Tomoyo-chan," she said, "I don't think."  
  
"See you in few minutes!" Tomoyo said as she turned the light off and closed the door. Sakura heard a lock click, and the darkness settled in around her. She wasn't afraid of the dark, normally, but right that second, she couldn't do anything at all. She couldn't even reach her star key if she needed to. She sighed a loud sigh and settled in to wait.  
  
Tomoyo, on the other hand, was still standing outside the closet, laughing as silently as she could. She was being so evil to Sakura, but she couldn't stop herself. I'll go get the dishwashing liquid, then when I get back. She really had no idea what she was going to do, but she ran out of the room in hurry to get back and do it.  
  
In the few minutes that it took Tomoyo to get back, Sakura was getting over being panicked. The dark was still just the dark, and the fact that she couldn't use her hands wasn't so bad either. As usual, her almost unbreakable spirit was helping her deal with her problems. She thought about the escape, and then she thought about her situation. It wasn't so bad, she thought, because she had Tomoyo to help her. Then she thought about Elainu. Sakura was beginning to trust her; with all the hard work she'd done training her in the magic for the show.  
  
"When I see her," she said to herself, "I'll ask her if she can help me learn if I can do that escape. I'm not saying I'll do it for real, I just want to try it out."  
  
She heard the lock click again, and a bright light came through the door. Tomoyo was standing there.  
  
"Sorry it took so long for me to get back," Tomoyo said as she came in and helped Sakura get up again.  
  
"That's ok, but," Sakura replied, "but did you have to turn the light off?" Tomoyo didn't answer her as she took her back to the couch again. She had the soap and a towel. Without saying much, she held Sakura's hands over the towel and began pouring the soap over them.  
  
"This should make them slippery," she said, and then she rubbed the soap all around her wrists. "I'll hold the cuffs, and you try to pull out of them." Tomoyo was smiling so hard, but since she was behind Sakura, she didn't try to cover up.  
  
"OK," Sakura said. She started slowly, trying to make her hands as small as possible, but the weren't coming out. "It's not working, Tomoyo, I."  
  
"Oh," Tomoyo said as her hands slipped. She heard a click as the cuff on Sakura's left hand clicked tighter.  
  
"OW!" Sakura cried out. "What happened?"  
  
"Oh, I'm Sorry, Sakura-chan," Tomoyo felt really bad. The fun of this wore off very quickly as she realized what she had done.  
  
"It hurts. OW! OW! OW!" Sakura turned around one the couch, her eyes filling with tears. Tomoyo looked her friend and cursed herself for having done something so stupid. She immediately reached in her pocket and pulled out the key. Through the tears, Sakura saw it, and in her pain she suddenly became angry.  
  
"Tomoyo-chan!?" She cried out, "You had the key the whole time?"  
  
"I'm sorry, Sakura-chan, I," Tomoyo said as she turned her friend around and unlocked the cuffs. She took the towel and handed it to Sakura, who was shaking now from the pain and the anger.  
  
"How could you?!" She cried out. "You locked me in a closet when you could have undone me at anytime?"  
  
"I, I," Tomoyo didn't know what to say or do, "I'm sorry." Tears began to well up in her eyes. Sakura dropped the towel, her eyes flaring from being madder than she had been in a long time, and she pulled out her star key.  
  
"RELEASE!" She cried, and it transformed into her staff. Still staring at Tomoyo, she pulled out two cards.  
  
"Shield, lock this room!" The card leapt forth. Brilliant blasts of light exploded all around as the card put a magic seal on all the windows and doors. Tomoyo was terrified, and pushed herself back against the couch. She'd never seen Sakura turn her magic on anyone who was a friend before.  
  
"Sakura!" She cried as she heard Sakura calling the Silent and the Wood.  
  
"Wood!" Sakura commanded, "Grab Tomoyo and hold her!" The wood branches flew out and grabbed each of Tomoyo's hands and feet, stretching her out and holding her still while another branch moved the couch out from under her. Tomoyo's heart was racing with fear as wood flattened her out on the floor with her arms and legs spread wide.  
  
"Sakura, Please!" She cried, but it didn't seem to help. Sakura was now moving slowly towards her former captor, an indescribable look of anger in her eyes. Each step she took was an eternity of dread for poor Tomoyo as she waited to see what Sakura was going to do next.  
  
She didn't have to wait long, as Sakura suddenly ran at her, screaming. She dropped her staff, jumped high and landed on top of Tomoyo, who screamed as well. Sakura's hands went way up in the air and came down on her would be captor. And she began tickling the unholy crap out of her!  
  
"Stop, please, don't, stop," Tomoyo began howling, laughing, shrieking, but she didn't put up much of a struggle at all. She couldn't. Wood held her tight, and there was no use in struggling at all. Sakura stayed on top, an evil kind of look on her face and her tongue hanging out. Of course she couldn't hurt her friend, but she could teach her the lesson of her life. Since she knew that Tomoyo was particularly sensitive under the arms, Sakura concentrated her attacks there, wriggling her fingers all along her sides. Tomoyo breathed quickly, laughing, but she had stopped protesting her torment. She knew she deserved it.  
  
Neither of them paid any attention to how long it took for Sakura to decide that Tomoyo had learned her lesson. Neither of them noticed when Arisu knocked on the door. (The silent had made it so no one outside the room could hear any noise from inside.) But both of them did remember that day for the rest of their lives. And, although she didn't tell her at the time, Tomoyo had always secretly wished that it would happen again...  
  
Sakura sat on the edge of the couch while Tomoyo caught her breath. She just stared at the floor, kind of upset that she had lost her temper like she had. Tomoyo, on the other hand, was still giggling a little.  
  
"I'm sorry, Tomoyo-chan," Sakura said, "I shouldn't have been so cruel."  
  
"No, don't think like that," Tomoyo told her, "you had every right to be mad at me, I mean, I locked you in the closet with the light off. I had it coming."  
  
The two of them looked at each other and smiled. Their friendship could just about survive anything. Sakura picked up the handcuffs and asked her friend a question.  
  
"Wanna help me practice?" She asked. Tomoyo just smiled. 


	6. the last lesson and a friend's advice

Practice went well for Sakura, because by the next day, she was able to show Elainu how quickly she could get out of the handcuffs.  She'd even learned to make it look like she was having a hard time getting free.

"Very good," came the voice of Joushin.  He had just then came up on the stage.  "I see you can't resist the temptation to tempt fate."

"Hoe?"  Sakura said, looking at him funny.

"The water escape," he added, "most people who become my assistant cant resist at least trying on the handcuffs.  How does all this make you feel, Sakura-san?"

Sakura thought about it a few seconds.  How did she feel about all this?  She knew that it didn't seem like it would be very hard to do the trick.   The only thing that she wasn't sure about was…

"Um," she said, "is it hard to be upside down under water?"  Joushin smiled quickly, and then motioned to her and Elainu to come to him.

"Actually," he said, "sit down."  He motioned for them to sit on the floor as he seated himself on a crate.  "The trick to that is to ignore what you see in through the glass.  That does kind of throw you.  But if you can do that, it's just like being right side up.  Except, of course, that you're restrained and can't move."

Sakura looked up at him, then at the tank.  It looked kind of foreboding, filled with water, but strangely calm looking as well.  _It couldn't be that bad, I'd think, _she thought.

"Is," she started, nervous about what she was about to ask, "Is there a way I could try it, without being locked in?"

"Of course, silly," Elainu chided, "that's how you do it the first time.  You have to learn the trick in pieces."

"Yes," Joushin continued, "first you learn the cuffs, they are more important than anything.  Then you learn the stocks.  Come and see them."  He got up and went to where the foot stocks rested on the ground and got down on his knees.  Sakura and Elainu followed.  The stocks were a simple device with two holes for a person's feet.

"Your feet do inside these," Joushin began, "it's made in two halves.  One slides away from the other, like this."  He pulled one half away from the other.  Each half had half of a hole for someone's feet to go into, and each half was connected to the other by six metal bars.  "Feet go in the holes, the halves come together, and BOOM," he shoved the two halves together,  "you're trapped.  However, what's not known about these is there is a special trick to them.  You see this?"  On the bottom, and on the side that would point down while someone hung from them, was what looked like a series of decorations carved into the wood.

"I you push the third decoration, the metal bars that hold the two halves together go POP."  He pushed the decoration, and a popping noise happened.  "The bars are spring loaded, so that they pop back out of the way, and now one half of the stocks swings down, allowing the feet to fall out and the 'victim' to escape."  Sakura stared in wonder at the ingenious way it worked.  She desperately wanted to try it.

"So," Elainu said, "ready to take a swim?"

Sakura said yes.

"Kero-chan!"  Sakura called out as she opened the door to her bedroom.  He was taking a nap, so her loud voice of course startled him to no end.

"Whaaaa," he said, bleary eyed and staring, "what, oh, your back.  That's nice."  He slumped back down on Sakura's pillow.

"Come on, Kero-chan, wake up.  I have something great to tell you."

"Something great?"  He said, opening one eye.

"Yup!"  Sakura said.  "A surprise."

"A surprise?"  Kero said, now with both eyes open.

Sakura nodded and sounded a yes.

"A SWEET surprise?"  He said, now floating up from the pillow to look her in the face.

"No, but," she stopped short of telling him, "it's kind of a secret."  Kero nearly passed out in midair.

"Why do you do this to me?"  He whined.

"I'm going to do something really neat at the magic show.  Tomoyo's going to bring you with her to see."  Kero was overjoyed at hearing this.

"Alright!" He said with excitement, "I've been wanting to see this Jouhsin the great.  Now I don't have to just watch some video that Tomoyo took of the show.  What are you going to be doing?  Not some card magic, I hope."  He said, referring to Sakura's cards.

"Oh, no," she replied, "nothing like that.  It's one of the best tricks.  But I want it to be a surprise, so I can't really tell you.  I hope you don't mind."

"Nah," Kero said, "I don't mind.  At least I do get to go see it.  I'll be good, so you don't have to tell me."

Every night over the next five days, Sakura would practice holding her breath.  Joushin had given her some breathing exercises to do, and she would lie in bed and quietly do them.  First, she would breath really deep and slow, quickly in and taking a long time to breath out.  After several minutes of getting as relaxed as she could, she would blow as much air out of her lungs as she could, then take the deepest breath she could and hold it.  She remembered the time, so long ago it seemed, when a Sorceress in Hong Kong had tried to drown her, and how scary it had seemed.  But right then, with the escape just a few days away, she felt like she was in complete control of everything.  Joushin had told her that they would plan to have her do the escape unannounced, that way if for any reason she decided not to do it, she didn't have to feel like such a failure in front of all those people.  But she was determined to do it.  She had no fear about it all.

When she had tried getting in the tank, they had put her feet in the stocks and gently lowered her in, without handcuffs on.  The anchor was attached to a rope that went under her armpits around her chest, holding her down so that her body didn't float up.  She had held her breath, stared out of the tank at Joushin and Elainu, and she couldn't help but smile.  She had pulled the slipknot and the anchor came loose and fell to the bottom of the tank.  She had grabbed the bars inside the tank, pulled herself up to reach the decorated switch, and the stocks opened just like they were supposed to.  Sakura had felt so alive then, so free.  She just couldn't describe it at all.

She timed her breath holds, and eventually she got to where she could hold her breath for almost 3 and a half minutes.  _More than enough time_, she thought.

 There was one little detail that Sakura had trouble with.  She needed to get her father to sign a release form so that she could do the water escape, but at the same time, she didn't want to tell him about the surprise.  She spent much time thinking what the right thing go do would be.  She so wanted to do the trick, and she wanted to surprise everyone, but she was afraid her father might say no, that it's too dangerous.

At first she walked down the stairs with the paper, then went back up, having lost her nerve.  She stood at the top of the stairs, looking down, holding the sheet of paper near her ever-pounding heart.  Then she started down the stairs again, and then came back up again.  

_Oooooo,_ she thought, _I can't keep doing this.  I can't do the escape without O-tousan's permission.  I just have to calm down and go down there and tell him.  He'll understand how important it is to me._

She went downstairs as quietly as possible.  Fujitake was in his study, working on lessons he would be teaching in college the next day.  Sakura went in, taking a quiet deep breath.

"O-tousan?"  She said.

"Hm," Fujitake said as he recognized his daughter's voice, "oh, hi there."

"Um," Sakura said as she looked down at the floor.  "I have to ask you something."  Fujitake turned to her and gave his full attention to her.

"What is it, Sakura-San?"  He asked pleasantly.

"I…"  Sakura took another nervous deep breath.  "I need you to sign this."  Fujitake took that piece of paper and started to read it.

"Is this from school?"  He asked.

"NO!"  Sakura blurted out, then changed her tone, "no, it's a paper that Joushin needs you to sign.  It's gives me permission to do a special magic trick in the show, but…"  Fujitake could tell from the sound of her voice that she was struggling with something, but he stayed quiet, giving her a chance to say what she was trying to stay.

"I'm going to do this special trick…"  She was struggling to say it, "If I was going to do something…  Something that looks like it's really dangerous, but really isn't, and I didn't tell you about it till you got there and saw it, would you be mad at me?"  Fujitake took a quick breath before answering her.

"Tell me what kind of trick it is.  Not _what_ the trick is, but what kind.  Is it disappearing trick, a mind reading trick?"  He trailed off.  He was giving her a way out of her nervousness.

"Um," she answered, "it's an escape trick."  She put her hands to her chin, and held really still while waiting to hear what her father had to say.

"Oh!"  His face lit up, "sounds like it's really exciting.  You know, lots of those tricks are very safe.  I had heard that his apprentice had died doing a trick like that, but I checked with the city and there were no reports of deaths like that at all.  I'll tell you a secret, Sakura-san."

"OK," Sakura said, instinctively leaning a little closer to him.

"When you told me you were going to be his assistant in the show, I checked him out.  He's been touring Japan doing his magic shows for over 11 years, and he has never had any kind of accident that resulted in anyone getting hurt."  Sakura just stared at him, wondering if what he said was a good thing or a bad thing.

"I believe he's safe, Sakura-san," he said as he took up a pen, "and I believe you'll be safe.  But remember," he signed the paper, "I get a front row seat."

Sakura thanked him repeatedly.  But as she went upstairs she thought that maybe there was one other person she needed to talk to.

Sakura walked up to the door of Yukito's house.  She wanted to talk to Yue, but she also wanted to talk to both of them.  She had thought about it, how even though the Escape was a safe trick that she maybe needed to talk to someone about it.  She needed to make sure, after talking to her father, that she wasn't doing something stupid.  She knocked on the door, and after a few seconds Yukito opened the door.

"Sakura-san," he said, smiling at her, "it's good to see you."

"Um, Hi, Yukito-san," she said, "Can I come in and talk?"  Yukito nodded and smiled.  He moved aside as Sakura stepped in.  Yukito lived with his grandparents, but they were almost never at home.  

"Um, Yukito," Sakura said, "I need to talk to you, but first I need to talk to Yue.  Could I do that?"

"Of course, Sakura-san.  Is there something wrong?"

"No, no, I just need some advice.  Both of you."

"OK, Sakura-san."  Yukito closed his eyes, took off his glasses and stood very still.  Sakura reached out and took the glasses from him as he gently lifted into the air.  He floated there about one foot off the ground, and then a yellow glow enveloped him.  A pair of wings emerged from his back, and they wrapped around him.  After a few seconds, the wings parted to reveal the taller, more imperious Yue.

"Yue-san," Sakura said, "I…  I need to talk to you."

Sakura explained about everything that had happened so far, about the Water escape, Joushin, Elainu, and her decision to do the trick.  Yue listened closely, not saying a word until he felt she was done.

"Sakura-san," he finally began, "When I first laid eyes on you, I didn't think much of you.  You looked like a poor choice to be mistress of the cards.  But as time has gone by, I realize more and more what it is that Clow was looking for in a card captor and Mistress.  It's hard to describe, but you have many of the same qualities he possessed.  He was kind, gentle, caring…  He loved everything, as well as everybody, and me.  He must have known you were the one to take his place."

"As to whether you can ever fill his shoes, only time will tell.  But I don't think he needed you to replace him.  He needed someone who could care for us.  That's all.  I believe he needed that for us more than anything."  He stopped and stared at her like Yue always did.

Sakura understood what he was saying.  But she still wanted to ask Yukito.  When he appeared, she had to go through the whole story again, since Yukito cant remember what Yue does.

"Um, well," he said, "if the trick isn't dangerous, then I guess it would be ok.  I would be worried about you though.  But then, that's what makes it exciting."

"Oh," she said, "I wouldn't want you to worry.  I'll be fine.  I mean, I can't tell you how it's done, but it's really safe.  And, if I feel like I can't do it, I wont.  I hope you'll come, all the same."

"Oh, Sakura-chan," he said and smiled, "I wouldn't miss it for the world.  Even if it will be scary."

"So, You'll keep my secret then?"

"Yes, I will."  He promised.


	7. Costume secrets, and a strange omen

"Tomoyo-chan," Sakura cried, "It's fantastic!"

Sakura tried on her new costume for the show.  The colors were exactly what Joushin wanted:  light blue, red and black.  But the costume itself looked very much like the costume she had worn for the final judgment.  

"I've seen this design before.  Isn't this just like," she paused to think.

"Yes," Tomoyo said with her usual enthusiasm, "I started with that design, because it was one of your best moments ever, so it makes sense you would wear a costume like it for your next best moment."

"It's wonderful," Sakura told her, "I love it.  Thank you."  Sakura continued to look at herself in the mirror.

"I also made up a bathing suit for when you're in the tank."  Tomoyo held up two costumes, one a one-piece suit, made in blue, red and black satin, with sequins along the shoulder straps and neckline.  The two piece was the same colors, but with extra sequins along the waistband.

"Hooooooieeee!"  Sakura called out with excitement.  "But why two?"

"Well," Tomoyo answered, "you'll probably want to wear the bathing suit under your costume, and it might get hot under the lights.  So I made a two piece too, it might not be as hot."

"Good thinking," Sakura said, "can I try on the two piece?"  Tomoyo nodded and Sakura grabbed it and went into Tomoyo's dressing room.  Tomoyo's living space (as apposed to bedroom) was made up of a bathroom, a bedroom, a sort of living room (with big screen TV) and a dressing room.  Inside the dressing room were three large mirrors, so Sakura could easily model whatever she was trying on.  Once she had changed into the bathing suit she stood there, looking at herself, Tomoyo walked up behind her.  This was the first bathing suit Tomoyo had ever made for her, and it showed off Tomoyo's signature style.  

"It's wonderful," was all Sakura could say.  Tomoyo walked up behind her, holding her hands clasped together in front of her.

"If you check the back of the suit," Tomoyo said, "near the top of the elastic band, is where I put the pocket for you to hide the key to the handcuffs.  That's what the sequins are for.  They hide the pocket."  Sakura reached around and felt for the pocket.  Sure enough, it was there, and the perfect size too.  She turned around so that she could see it, but it was invisible with all the fancy sequins around it.

"Wow," she said, "I never would have known it was there."  She turned back around to look at herself in the mirror again.

"You look so cute," Tomoyo said, "I can't wait to capture your bravery on video.  I'm sure this is one time you do magic that even you will be proud for the world to see."   As Sakura still looked into the mirrors, Tomoyo reached out with her fingertips and started to tickle Sakura's ribs.

Sakura started to giggle, then spinning around in mock anger, she reached to the chain around her neck that held her star key.  

"Tomoyo-chan," she half cried out, trying not to laugh, but to act like she was mad.  "I'll have wood grab you again.  You know I can do that any time I want."  At that, Tomoyo looked at Sakura, tilted her head sideways and smiled.

"I know," was all she said.

"Hoe?"  Sakura said as she smiled at Tomoyo.  The two of them looked at each other only for a second before…

"BAM!"  A sound ripped out at them from outside Tomoyo's bedroom window.  

"BAM!"  Came another.  Startled, both Tomoyo and Sakura sank to their knees, wondering if maybe something had exploded.

"What was that?"  Sakura said, as another loud crash came, somewhat quieter.  

"I don't know," Tomoyo said.  Sakura got back up and ran back to Tomoyo's bedroom and stared out the window.  At first, she couldn't see a thing in the twilight, but out in the yard, not too far from the window, a dark silhouette could be seen moving along the outer wall.

"Sakura-chan, what do you see?"

"I don't know," Sakura said, holding the star key ready, "but I'm going to find out.  Release!"

With the staff in hand Sakura called the jump, opened the window and practically flew out of the house, landing on the lawn.  Servants inside the house could see the strange figure that was Sakura, still in her sequined bathing suit, running across the lawn toward the outer wall.  She slowed down as she drew near the dark shadow, and caught her breath.  It stopped, and what appeared to be two glowing blue eyes turned to stare at her.

Sakura began to back away a little, unsure of what to do.  _What is this thing?  _She asked herself, _what could it want?  _She decided to try and talk to it.

"You there," she said in as strong a voice as she could, "What do you want?"  The shadow didn't answer her, but only hovered for a second before it moved up the wall and disappeared over the top.  Sakura jumped high, landed on top, and caught a glimpse of it as it quickly continued along the street.  In that instant, it seemed to disappear.

Sakura returned to Tomoyo's bedroom window, where her friend was still waiting, worried.

"Sakura-chan," she cried, "what did you find?"

"I," Sakura said as she climbed in the window, "I don't know.  It was a dark," she paused, "thing!"  

"What?"  Tomoyo looked like she might be terrified, although she really was only just still worried.

"Yeah,"  Sakura said as she realized that her heart was going a thousand beats per minute.  "Whatever it was, it had to have been looking in at us.  But why would anybody or anything do that?"

Both of them were quiet.  What indeed.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

When Sakura got home that night, she immediately asked Kero if he had seen anything strange since she had been gone.  Kero hadn't seen or sensed anything.

"It is weird though," She told him, "I didn't sense anything either.  You would have thought that if it was a magical creature, I would have sensed something."

"Your right," Kero agreed, "but you never know.  There are a few spells that could be used to hide a magic presence."

"There are?"  Sakura said.

"Yeah, but," Kero continued, "I don't know if it means anything.  It could have just been a ghost, or a poltergeist.  I don't see why something that was magical and wanted to get to you wouldn't have at least tried to get to you right then and there.  It had the opportunity to get you, if it wanted to."

"Ghost?"  Sakura said, "Do you think it was a ghost?"  Sakura was trembling.  Although her fear of ghosts wasn't as bad as it had been, she still didn't care for the idea of dead things floating around.

"It must have been, and if it was, I wouldn't worry about it.  Unless it was trying to tell you something.  Sometimes a spirit is trying to communicate with the living."

"Why would it do that?"  Sakura blurted out.

"Because it's lonely."  Kero looked at her with a kind of indignation.  "How am I supposed to know what ghosts want.  All I know is that most real ghosts are harmless, so don't worry about it."

Sakura didn't sleep right at all that night.  Although she had the breathing exorcises that calmed her before she went to sleep, she couldn't help thinking about the ghost.  By the time she really fell asleep, it was almost sunup.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

"I think that we should tell Shaoran about the ghost, Sakura-chan," Tomoyo said as she and Sakura were walking into the theatre.  She was carrying Sakura's costume with her.  "He'd want to know about it, I'm sure."

"Nah," Sakura said to her friend, "at least not right now.  I got today's rehearsal to do."

"Is that why you wanted me to come with you?"  Tomoyo asked.  Sakura nodded, but the real reason she wanted Tomoyo with her was so that she could have some moral support.  This was the day they were going to put Sakura in the tank, hands fully cuffed, and lock her in for a full run through of the escape.  Sakura's heart was already pounding as she caught site of Joushin and Elainu.  

"Good afternoon, Sakura-san," Joushin called out, "how are you today?"

"Fine," Sakura said, half excited and half in fear.  "Are we going to do a full dress rehearsal today?"

"Yes, we are," he said, "is that the costume?  May we see it?"  Tomoyo held up the costume for everyone in the theatre to see, and everyone was pleased.

"Young lady," Joushin said, talking to Tomoyo, "if you aren't going to grow up to be a costume designer, it will be a loss to the world.   It's wonderful."  Tomoyo just smiled.  But while they talked, Sakura was staring at the tank.  She wasn't afraid, she new that she was in good hands with Joushin and Elainu, but it was still intense.  

"Sakura-chan," Tomoyo said, rousting her out of her reverie, "are you OK?  You look like you have something big on your mind."  Sakura only nodded.

"Well," Joushin said, "we might as well get started.  You can go get ready."  Sakura disappeared into a dressing room and came out in her new bathing suit.  She looked a little worried, but she still managed to smile at everyone as she walked out to Joushin on the stage.

"You look wonderful!"  Was the general thought of everyone there.  Joushin walked over to Sakura and got to one knee in front of her.

"Now, let's go over this.  First thing we have to do is put the key where it needs to be."  He handed her the key for the handcuffs.  "Fix it so that it's comfortable and easy to get to."  Sakura put it in the secret pocket.

"Ok," she said, trembling a little, "got it."

"Relax," he said to her in a reassuring way.  "When we put you in today, your not going to be in any more than one minute.  If you haven't freed yourself in that time, then the trick wont work anyway.  I don't want anything to happen to you."  Sakura smiled at him, feeling a little better.

"Now, after you've made an announcement of your attempt, you'll come over to this side, where we will have laid out the stocks.  We'll have at least three people from the audience come up and inspect the stock, the tank, the locks, the handcuffs…  The only thing we don't let them do is search you.  That's not something that most people will do to someone your age anyway."

"Joushin-kun," Sakura started to say, "I was wondering.  Those bars inside the tank.  I know you use them to pull yourself up, but what do you say if one of the people from the audience asks what they are for?"

"Well," he replied, "they have a duel purpose.  If anything really did go wrong, we can smash the glass, and these bars keep the tank from falling apart.  So they're there as a safety measure.  Plus, the glass is safety glass, which means it breaks into little tiny pieces instead of long, sharp pieces."  Sakura listened to him closely.  It was good to hear him sound so confident.

"Now," he continued, "we'll put your feet in the stocks."  He motioned to Sakura to come and sit down in front of them.  She walked over slowly, still a little apprehensive.  As she sat down, he continued talking her through it.

"I made an adjustment to the size of the holes for you, so that it's a more snug fit.  I don't want it to seem like you might be able to slip out."  He opened the stocks and gently set her ankles in them, then gently closed them.  The locks shut with click.  Sakura's heart began to pound harder.

"We'll put the anchor rope on once your up and hanging over the tank."  Elainu came over and handed Joushin the pair of handcuffs.  He held them up so that Sakura could see.

"It's important for you," he told her, "to only open one side of the cuffs.  Don't bother to undo both hands.  That takes up precious time in the tank.  The less time you spend in there, the better.  Now, I'm going to lock them on you."

Sakura closed her eyes as she felt him clicking the cuffs closed around her wrists.  She wasn't really thinking anymore.  But now that she was locked up, and with Joushin talking her through each step calmly and with reassurance, her nerves were going away.  She looked up from thinking and looked at Tomoyo, who was videotaping the whole thing and looking a little worried.  Sakura smiled at her, and Tomoyo smiled back.

"Are you getting all of this?"   Sakura called out to her.

"Oh, yes, Sakura-chan," Tomoyo replied, "can't miss this."

"OK," Joushin continued, "Now.  Let's take her up."  Elainu and another assistant pulled on a rope.  A block and tackle system, designed to make it easy to lift heavy objects with just one rope, began lifting the stocks and Sakura up off the ground.  Joushin held her steady until she was in the air.  Blood rushed to Sakura's head, making her eyes hard to focus for a couple of seconds.  Higher and higher until her head was as high up as the top of the tank, then they positioned her over the water.

"And then, we attach the anchor."  Joushin climbed a ladder carrying the anchor.  "It only weighs about 10 pounds, but it's enough to make it seem more dangerous."  He looped the rope around Sakura's chest and under her arms.  With her hands cuffed like the were, the rope couldn't come loose.

"You can either pull on the end of the slip knot and the rope will come loose, or you can let it slip around your arms when you get your hands free.  Either one will do."  He put the anchor in the water and gently lowered into the tank till it was hanging from around Sakura's chest.  It wasn't really heavy at all.  She looked around at the stage from her upside down position, realizing that this was it.

"Oh," Joushin said, "I almost forgot."  He reached into his pocket and pulled out a pair of nose clips.  He put them on Sakura's nose.  "So no water get's in while you're upside down."  Sakura smiled at him.

"Now, look at me," Joushin told her.  Her eyes met his, and they made her feel a little less nervous.  "Now is where you breathe.  In quickly, out slowly."  Sakura nodded, and started taking quick, deep breaths, slowly letting them out.  "When you feel you are ready, nod as you take your last big deep breath.  Blow all your air out, then take the biggest breath you can."

Sakura breathed, in, then out.  Then again.  In and out.  _Come on, _she thought,  _I can do this._  She blew out hard, focusing her eyes on a spot way out in the theatre, then pulled in as much air as she could.  In harder, then holding her breath, she nodded.  Tomoyo, still taping, held her breath in sympathy.

"OK," Joushin called out, "Down she goes."  Sakura closed her eyes.  She could feel the water making it's way up the side of her head, past her mouth and over her neck and shoulders.  The sounds of water sloshing against the sides of the tank seemed to move from side to side around her.  It was a little colder than when she first tried it, but not that much.  When she felt the water reach her hands, she opened her eyes and reached to see if she could still feel the key in it's pocket.  It was still there.  The world looked so strange through the glass of the tank, upside down.  But she broke her train of thought as she realized that the blood was roaring in her ears.  She felt the water pass her knees, and then she felt the stocks bump into the top of the tank.

"Ok, lock it up."  Two of the other assistants padlocked the stocks in place as Elainu started the timer.  Joushin jumped down from the ladder just in time to see Sakura start acting like she was struggling…  Or, at least he hoped it was an act.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

It was just an act.  Sakura was getting the key out of the secret pocket, but as she did, she felt her heart begin racing.  She wasn't staying as calm as she should, so she stopped a second to focus.  But her heart went from really fast to really slow and hard.  That she wasn't ready for.  But she had to do the trick, so there wasn't time to worry about it.  With her lungs starting to feel heavy, she took the key in her fingers and began working it into the keyhole in the handcuffs.  After a few seconds, with her head starting to ache a little, she finally got it loose, but the strain of concentrating and her heart beating hard was making it harder to hold her breath.  She reached for the slipknot that held the anchor rope in place, and pulled it.  The anchor rope fell away from her, and the anchor struck the bottom of the tank with a loud thunk.  

Sakura hung there for just a second before reaching out and grabbing the bars.  At that moment she understood why Joushin had told her that relaxing before a performance was important because her lungs felt like they were on fire.  Slowly pulling herself up towards where her ankles were in the stocks, she felt around for the decorated switch, but the rushing sound in her ears and her lungs screaming out for air were beginning to make her panic.  

 _I can do this, _she screamed inside her mind as she struggled and strained with her fingers to reach the switch.  She squeezed her eyes shut hard, clamping her mouth down so that she wouldn't open it, and…  Finally found the switch.

Her feet dropped out from the stocks, and she was able to turn right side up in the tank.  She poked her head up through the top, letting a huge gasp go and taking the deepest breath she had ever taken.  She had done it!

"Sakura-chan!"  Tomoyo cried out, "You did it!"  Joushin was climbing the ladder again and Elainu was jumping up and down, more excited than she had been in a long time.  Sakura herself, in between deep breaths, began to shout out repeatedly in celebration. 

"I did it!  Tomoyo!  I did it!  I did it!"  

"Great job, Sakura-san," Joushin said as Sakura started pulling her self out and breathing hard.  "How do you feel now?"

Sakura pulled up and sat on the edge of the top of the tank, think about it.  She was breathing hard, but she felt like she'd just climbed the tallest mountain in the world.  

"I feel great!"  Was all she could say.


	8. Difficult Emotions

Sakura spent the next couple of days practicing, and she did the trick two more times.  The third time, they used a curtain, and Sakura got loose in no less than thirty seconds.  She was really getting good at it, and was starting to really look forward to the big night.  But there was one thing that bothered her.  She had to tell Shaoran about the ghost.  She was so afraid of what he would say, but she knew she had to do it.

"A ghost?"  Shaoran said when she finally told him, "you saw a ghost?"

"No," Sakura said, "Kero said it was ghost.  I don't know what it was."  Shaoran  turned away from her, thinking to himself.  There weren't many things in the world that even resemble the strange thing Sakura was talking about.

"And, you say it ran away when you chased after it?"

Sakura nodded.  She didn't even want to bring it up, considering nothing else had happened in two days, but she didn't feel right not at least telling Shaoran about it.  She felt that if he didn't think anything of it, then it must be OK.

"I don't like it," he said, finally.  Sakura stared at him for a second, holder her hands together just in front of her chin.  She just knew it.  He was going to say he didn't want her to be in the magic show.  

"Wh," she stuttered, "what do you mean?"

"I mean, it's at least a bad omen.  You should think about not doing the magic show."

Sakura began breathing harder.  This is not what she wanted to hear.  For the first time since she had decided to do the trick, she realized how important it had become to her.  Although she didn't understand why, she knew she had to do it.

"Shaoran-kun," she cried, "I have to do the show…  I need to do the show.  I've worked so hard, and learned so much.  I'll be careful, I know…"  She almost let out her secret.  She remembered that she hadn't told Shaoran about doing the water escape.  

"Hey," he said, "I didn't say you couldn't do it.  I just said think about it.  I still want to see you on the stage.  I just want you to be safe."  Sakura blushed when she heard him say that.

"I will be, as long as your there."

But it bothered her, keeping the secret from him.  As the big day came, she knew everything would be all right, but she didn't like not telling him the whole truth.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

When the big day came, Sakura got up at six in the morning.  It was Saturday, and she still had to go to school.  (In Japan, school children attend school 6 days a week)  She cooked breakfast for her father and Touya, cleaned up the dishes and ran upstairs to tell Kero about the day.

"After school, Tomoyo and I will stop by here to pick you up, then head back to the theatre.  There's a lot of things we have to do before the show, and I have to help out."

"Sakura," Kero said, "are you maybe going to leave your cards here?"

Sakura had to think about that for second.  Would she need her cards for the magic show?  She didn't always take them to school with her, so she didn't always have them at practice.

"I don't know," she said.  "What do you think?"

"Well," Kero said, "I think you could leave them here.  Shaoran will be there, and so will your father and Tomoyo, not to mention, yours truly!"

"Yukito-san will be there too," Sakura exclaimed, "And Naoko-chan and Rika-chan and Chiharu-chan.  Oh," she started to become excited, "it will be so wonderful."

"I hope there's lots of food there," Kero said, "I don't want to get sleepy during the performance."

"Kero-chan!"  Sakura flashed with anger.  "You've never even seen the show.  How could you?"

"I was just kidding!"  He cried back.  "I'm sure that it will be the performance of a life time for Card Captor Sakura."

Sakura got over being angry with Kero very quickly, because the day seemed to fly by.  All day long, different people, teachers and students all came and asked her questions, all wanting to know how to do this magic trick and that magic trick.  Sakura told them all the same thing:  A good magician never tells.  She felt like such a star, some older kids from the high school next door even asked her for her autograph!  But along with the excitement came some nerves, and a little bit of regret.  She still didn't feel right about not telling Shaoran the whole story.

After school, as Sakura and Tomoyo walked to the Kinomoto home, Sakura thought hard about everything.  She wasn't feeling like backing out of the Escape.  She wanted to do it so much.  

"Tomoyo-chan," she said, "do you think that I should have told Shaoran about the water Escape?"

"Why to you ask?"  Tomoyo was sensing that her friend had something important on her mind.

"I," Sakura stopped, "I told him about the ghost, but I didn't tell him about the Escape.  I still want it to be a surprise, but I feel like…  Like…"

"Like what?  Sakura-chan."  Sakura stopped walking and sat down on a short stone fence, staring at the ground.

"I know that if he knew about the Escape, he would tell me he didn't want me to do it.  But, I want to do it so bad.  I don't want to lie to him, but…"  She started to cry.  Tomoyo sat down next to her friend and put her arm around her.

"What he thinks matters to you, doesn't it?"  Tomoyo said.  She knew that Sakura loved Shaoran.  "And you'd do anything to make him happy, and not worry him.  It's only natural that you'd want to do that."  But Sakura was beginning to breath faster, and her eyes began to sparkle. 

"What is it, Sakura-chan?"  Sakura began to weep.  She was struggling with what to say, and it was now coming out quickly and frantically.

"I have this magic, Tomoyo-chan.  Magic I can't really share with anyone.  You and Shaoran are the only ones who really know about it.  But I always worry that someone would find out, but at the same time I wish that I could tell the whole world about the things I can do.  I sit sometimes and wonder, 'what would it be like to just call the 'Flower' and send pretty roses or nadesicos all around, or make rainbows for the whole world to see'.  But…"  She stopped and sobbed some more.

Tomoyo held her friend, and wondered what it would be like herself.  Normal people had hunted and burned witches in the past.  But that was the past.  Could the world understand how an eleven year old girl had incredible magic?  Would the world accept her, or would they fear her?  All Tomoyo knew for sure was that Sakura was in a difficult position.  To have so much and have to hide it had to be the most horrible life to lead.

"Sakura-chan," Tomoyo started, "You shouldn't cry.  I know it's hard to keep things secret.  We all have secrets we have to keep.  Yours is just a little harder.  That's all."  Tomoyo knew all to well about secrets that had to be kept.  

"I think you should use your magic," Tomoyo continued.  "Try to find good ways to use it.  I think that you always have to find ways to make your magic known, even if it's just like in this magic show.  Even if it's not _your_ magic.  Whether it's something big or small doesn't matter.  You'll find a way.  You always do."

Sakura started to calm down.  Although it wasn't perfect, what Tomoyo said did make sense.  She may have to hide herself, her true self, for now, but there would be a time when she could shine.  And tonight, she could shine.

"Thank you, Tomoyo-chan," Sakura said as she brightened up, "your right.  It's just hard sometimes.  When it comes time for me to do the Escape, would you make sure you're near Shaoran.  Tell him I wanted to surprise him, and that I worked really hard to learn it.  That I hope he's proud, and not angry with me."

"I will, Sakura-chan," Tomoyo Replied, "I promise."


End file.
